2010

After the final semester review, I had many thoughts on the state of this project. Although it has been very helpful, I feel that I have become lost in the documentation of the existing building. I want this building and its renovation to play a large role in my thesis project, but it has been delaying the design from moving forward. Along with that, the lack of a decisive program has also been impeding on the process. Currently, my idea for program is a studio/gallery/residence for a potter. The act of molding objects out of soft clay and then finishing and firing them seems like an alchemical process which could draw parallels to my site. This process seems to speak to the history of the site, allowing the program to have a close relationship with the site and providing for architectural design opportunity.

The next set of drawings to come will be studies of the site in plan/section that focus on the new, and allow me to take a stand on how the old and new will interact. Moving forward and diving into the design will allow the process to begin and evolve over the next few months of the project, and having a program will let me begin designing spaces with a specific function in mind.

A New Direction

Last week, I took a turn and dove into collage as a means of searching for an answer to my questions. How would I take this project forward? What constraints am I choosing to work within? And, of course, How do I build the other half? 

I seem to have come across a solution (in a basic form) that works with the site and the constraints. 

This idea involves a rethinking of the other half. Thinking of the project as a way to remember the other half --not re-build it-- these collages are looking at the opportunity that arises when the other half becomes a courtyard that you can move through, experiencing the memory of the old. My 'intervention' into the site would rest on the side/back of the site and help create this courtyard space. Both of these collages are very preliminary, and through they do not necessarily correspond to each other exactly, they were exploring different approaches to the same idea:: a new architectural intervention working with the old one, that creates a space where the memory of the pre-existing structure can come through.

As I look into the presence of memory, I can't help but think of a wonderful project by Peter Zumthor. The Kolumba, Art Museum of the Archdiocese of Cologne, located in Germany, is a fantastic example of the new meeting the old, and the presence of memory. There is a large room where Roman and Medieval ruins were found, where Zumthor designed a catwalk that weaves through the ruins. The ceiling is supported by a series of skinny columns that come down and elegantly touch the ground, passing through the ruins. Images can be found here.

More collages will be coming soon as I explore this idea of the residual presence of memory.

Documentation

As November begins, I am knee deep in this thesis. The architect of the project has not returned my many calls/emails, so there is little hope left in obtaining survey drawings for this historic structure. But, on the bright side, I found a few images on his website that will assist me in the documentation of this project.

I painstakingly counted the bricks on the front facade so that I could draw an elevation for my midterm. The drawing has since been completed (above), a documentation of the existing structure with every visible brick counted and drawn. This process has brought me much closer to the building, I feel as though I am beginning to know it and care for it. My next goal is to have a back elevation and a west elevation.


As I do these meticulous drawings, I will also be working in a looser and messier parallel. I am taking this front elevation and collaging it with ideas about space/place in a series of images. With these collages I hope to take a stance on what the 'other half' will be.

Midterm.

This semester has been flying by. I guess that's what happens when you have a year to work on one project. Now that I am 1/4 of the way done (time wise, but not necessarily work wise) I should update this page with a snippet of where I am currently.

I have been scouring the internet and the library of congress for information that I could use in my research of LeDroit Park. I found that the neighborhood was developed in the 1870's by Amzi Barber, a member of the board of trustees of Howard University. Most of the original homes were designed by DC architect James McGill. My home that is on my site however was built sometime in the 1890's, and I am almost positive that it was not a James McGill design (however I could be completely wrong).

The "twin" caught on fire sometime in the 1940's and suffered severe structural damage. The damage was so bad in fact that the home was demolished and the site left vacant. The firewall that separated the two halves actually worked. It still stands today as an ode to the past.

On top of the research that I have carried out, I have also begun documentation of the structure. By counting the bricks of the facade, I have started to lay out some measured drawings that show the existing circumstances. I cannot tell you how helpful this process has been to me. I have been trying to draw every brick in order to gain a better understanding of the existing conditions of the site. I should be completing these drawings in a few weeks, and be able to begin my design.

The midterm review went very well... better than I expected it would. I received a lot of good feedback concerning my research, and where I can take it. Looking at theories of twins, others, and doubles, I feel like I can approach the future design with a perspective that would allow me to create the best possible solution to the design situation I find myself in now.

My next step is making a model of the structure when I am finished the documentation drawings, and studying its interaction with the site throughout the days/weeks/months. I hope that my next few steps lead me to a good solution that can begin to evolve into my thesis.

I can't wait to get into the detail drawings (and hopefully makings) sometime next semester. 

Twins

It's been a few weeks since I have made a post here. I have been doing readings that speak to the relationship of old and new, as well as getting into some readings that focus on the relationship of twins and the double.

The interesting thing about this house, and what drew me to it immediately, is its lack of another half. This house had a twin at one point, its 'other half' was the compliment (completion). Since then it has lost its twin, and now it feels as though it is lacking it. Structurally it can exist on its own, but architecturally it feels only half present.

Twins have been portrayed in history as denoting both union and separation, joining and parting. They can be described as having a "tight but troubled alliance." Twins are not perfect balances (i.e. yin and yang), and they are not polar opposites. They are an in-between, a trick of near-symmetrization. They are a "special case of duality in its mode of self contradiction, a non-resolving duad."

These relationships that are brought up begin to play out in my mind as a means to find an architectural end. What should the 'other half' be? How can it be the opposite and the compliment?

I'll end with this image, taken from the 1921 Baist Real Estate Atlas of Washington DC. You can see the house existing with its twin (inside the orange block), but if you look closely, they are not mirror images of each other.

Site.

 I have found a site.

A few blocks south of Howard University, in the heart of Ledroit Park, sits this duplex, or should I say half duplex. From the information I have been able to gather, the sturcture was built in the late 1800's in this late Victorian style neighborhood. The home belonged to Mary Church Terrell, one of the primary figures in the fight for civil rights in DC. She was also the first black woman to be appointed to the school board.

The structure itself also has an interesting history. The homes in the Ledroit Park neighborhood were constructed in the 1880's-90's, with this house constructed in 1894. The home was built as a duplex structure, with the separation coming at the center of the gable roof. In the 1940's, one half was damaged in a fire and had to be removed, thus leaving the other half intact.

The building intrigued me from the moment I saw a picture. The duplex was built to look like a single family home, but it was actually split in the center. This creates a very interesting situation when one half remains. The structure looks incomplete, it lacks the 'other half,' but at the same time it is a complete home.

As I study this project and work on my thesis design, I will have an array of questions to propel me forward into this investigation::

What is the relationship of the part to the whole?
How does the 'other half' become its own element, but still rely on the original structure?
How does old meet new?
What is the role of the joint?

Thesis Begins.

As I begin my final year of Architecture school and undertake what will be the most in-depth and self expressive project that I have yet design, I have decided to begin an electronic record. I want this blog to be a weekly track and progress report as to where I am within this process that is my Masters Thesis. It is the forum through which I will keep track of my own thoughts, reflections, and frustrations. As I embark on this year long journey, I hope to discover more about my own architectural (and material) imagination.

Currently, I have a vague idea as to what my thesis project will study. The relationship between old and new has fascinated me for many years of my architectural education. How do we as conscious beings use the resources we have available to us in a smarter way? Can we take what is already out there and re-purpose it to give it new life?

Being a proponent of urbanism, there are inherent qualities of the relationship between old and new built into cities. Each city has a history of its own, with old structures and new structures that are in constant conversation with each other. Perhaps directly next to or within each other. How does the role of the joint impact this dialogue? From the scale of the city, to the site, to the detail?

I hope to find a site that has an existing historical structure, take that structure and study it, and plan an addition/renovation that gives it new life, while still honoring the life that it has had.

The site is still to be determined, but will be located within the city of Washington, DC. The program will be informed by the site, and will come at a later date.

a sketch of The Querini Stampalia in Venice, Italy,
a renovation project by Carlo Scarpa.